Friday, March 27, 2009

More than a thousand urban poor residents assembled at two different points in Paranaque then marched on to the City Hall to demand a moratorium on demolitions. The protesters held a whole-day program at the grounds of the City Hall and then petitioned the City Council which met at 4 p.m.

“We are asking the City Council of Paranaque to pass an ordinance in accordance with the resolution of the Commission on Human Rights recommending to LGU’s that they implement a moratorium in evictions and demolitions in consideration of the impact of the crisis on the poor,” explained Nena Olbina, a leader of the Alyansa ng Maralita sa Paranaque (AMP), a coalition of community organizations in the city.

The group is referring to the CHR Resolution (1v) No. A2008-052 entitled “Recommending the imposition of a moratorium on evictions and demolitions of structures using for dwelling purposes and other measures to protect the right to housing.”

One group assembled around 7 a.m. at SM Bicutan while another party met around the same time at 7-11 in Kabihasnan. According to the AMP, three depressed communities in Paranaque—Meliton and Sitio Wakas in Brgy. San Dionisio in District 2 and Tambo in District 1—are scheduled for immediate demolition.

According to Romy Cabugnason, a leader of the Tucuma Federation, “Paranaque is not alone if it passes the ordinance for a moratorium. The cities of Pasay and Quezon already have similar local laws.”

The rallies at NHA last Tuesday and in Paranaque today are both build up activities for the "Kalbaryo ng Maralita" in the coming Holy Week. The “Kalbaryo ng Maralita’ is an annual protest to highlight the plight and struggles of the urban poor.

The last rally at the Paranaque City Hall on February 19 was marred with violence when a security guard in one of the subdivisions fired a warning shot as the rally passed by.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Women workers are disproportionately affected by the ongoing mass layoffs, work rotation and other flexibility schemes. In the two industries that have been greatly affected by the global crisis—electronics and garments—women workers are the overwhelming majority. The country’s top two exports are electronics and, apparel and clothing accessories, accounting respectively for $2.6 billion and $181 million in revenues as of September 2008 according to the National Statistics Office. About 18% of exports are sent to the US and then 14% to Japan, both of which are in recession.

With the crisis getting deeper, the double burden of women workers becomes heavier. The traditional coping mechanism of the workers and the poor is the safety net of family relations but this unduly relies on the unpaid work of women. The double burden means women are exploited as cheap labor in the factories and then utilized as unpaid workers in the home.

The government must provide the safety net of social protection so that workers and the poor do not rely exclusively on the coping mechanism of family relations and women are not weighed down by the heavier double burden. A pro-labor and pro-women bailout package is needed is to alleviate the burden of the crisis on the feminine shoulders of women workers.

Pilar (women) still trailing Pepe (men)

Yet the government is deaf and blind to these demands. In fact it is making big fuzz out of its false claim that Pilar has overtaken Pepe, that Filipino women have overtaken men in terms of development. A presumptuous government study claims that women have surpassed men in health, education, and income, and that sooner or later it is Filipino men who will clamor for equality and demand its own “National Men’s Month.”

This study asserts women have gained higher achievements than men in all three dimensions as indicated by the higher than one levels of Gender Equality Ratio or GER for health (1.0248), education (1.0583) and income (1.2299) in 2003. In fact, the advantage of women in the income dimension grew bigger as the GER in income increased from 1.1170 to 1.2299. This is probably one of the reasons why the theme of the government’s commemoration of Women’s Month is “Babae, Yaman ka ng Bayan!” (Women, You are the Wealth of the Nation!)

The truth is that the study merely highlights women achievements in those areas but it hides the bigger picture of the state of inequality between men and women in the Philippines. It also contains chauvinist innuendos, or a sexist joke at its worst, by challenging the egos of men that they are outperformed by women. This exposes the fact that the government hardly understands the essence of women’s struggle for equality.

The awful truth is that around 51.4 percent (or 15 million) of Filipino women are not active in the labor force compared to the 78.9 percent (22.9 million) labor force participation rate for men. Assuming that 4 million of these women aged 15-19 are still studying and the 2.5 million aged 60-80 above have retired, there remains 8.5 million women aged 20-59 who are not active in the labor force.

These women are a big chunk of the labor force that are doing fulltime household work—unrecognized by society because the value of what they do remains invisible in the country’s income accounts. Likewise, they are not counted in unemployment statistics. There are only 929,000 unemployed women accounted for in October 2008.

These numbers indicate that more than half of Filipino women aged 15 and above are without their own income. So how can these invisible women be considered “yaman ng bayan” (wealth of the nation) when in fact they are without their own source of income.

Moreover, according to the International Labor Organization (ILO), women are paid lower wages compared to men, and this is the trend worldwide. Despite the fact that there is no discrimination on women in terms of wages policies in the country, majority of women workers are found in the service sector, education, finance, health and social work where wages are more often than not below minimum, without benefits, with worse working conditions and the type of work are mere extensions of their household chores. To add up to these is the recent lay off of around 40,000 workers, mostly women, due to the global economic crisis.

The same goes in the health aspect. While it is true that women live longer than men, there are also 11 women who die in childbirth everyday according to the recent study by the United Nations Children’s Fund. Pregnancy and childbirth complications remain in the top 10 killers of women in the country. In relation with this, it is estimated that 800 women die yearly due to complications of unsafe abortion. Around 3,000 women yearly are reported raped and the trend is going up. Another 3,000 women die of breast cancer yearly, and another 2,000 of cervical cancer.

Working class women demands

Thus women workers demand a (1) subsidy for displaced workers from the government; (2) tax refund for all wage earners; (3) expansion and reform of the public employment program; (4) extension of health care coverage for displaced workers; and (5) moratorium on demolitions and evictions.

Aside from these, we demand the passage of the Reproductive Health bill. The Reproductive Health bill answers the problem of high maternal mortality that is bound to escalate in times of crisis. Without the Reproductive Health bill, reproductive health services will remain beyond the reach of poor working women.

To fund this vastly expanded social program, the entire PhP700 billion (USD14 billion) debt servicing budget must be reallocated.

Furthermore we demand the reversal of the policies of liberalization, deregulation and privatization which is at the root of high prices of goods and the deterioration of public services.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Some 200 residents of Bagong Silang, Caloocan City and Sapang Palay in San Jose del Monte, Bulacan trooped this morning to the main office of the National Housing Authority to press for condonation of onerous interests and penalties on their housing loans. While the protesters were picketing the NHA premises, their leaders held a dialogue with housing officials.

“A condonation of penalties and interests on low-cost and socialized housing loans together with a moratorium on demolitions and evictions must be declared. The least that the government could do in a time of crisis is to refrain from destroying the houses and livelihood of the poor,” declared Jess Panis, spokesperson of the Alyansa ng Maralitang Pilipino (AMP).

The rally assembled around 9 a.m. at Philcoa then marched round the Quezon Memorial Cirle before ending with a picket at the NHA main office. The bulk of the rallyists came from the AMP, Zone One Tondo Organization and Partido ng Manggagawa in Bagong Silang and Sapang Palay.

“We are the Pinoy version of ‘subprime homeowners’ who must be bailed out similar to Barack Obama’s plan to rescue poor Americans who are burdened with mortgages and threatened with foreclosure. Demolitions can only be permitted when relocation is negotiated with and agreed upon by the affected communities,” insisted Panis.

The groups are also calling for pro-poor implementing rules and regulations (IRR) for the recently passed Republic Act 9507 providing for a loan restructuring and condonation program for socialized and low-cost homeowners. They allege that in the absence of an IRR, housing agencies are foreclosing houses of residents who would otherwise have benefited from the law.

The picket-protest at the NHA was the second time in two months that residents from relocation areas raised the demand for condonation of interests and penalties. It is also a prelude to a thousand-strong mobilization on Thursday by community organizations at the Paranaque City Hall. They will demand a stop to a series of demolitions in the city that has affected hundreds of families in depressed communities.

The rallies at NHA today and in Paranaque on Thursday are both build up activities for the ‘Kalbaryo ng Maralita’ in the coming Holy Week. The “Kalbaryo ng Maralita’ is an annual protest to highlight the plight and struggles of the urban poor.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Workers of a garments export factory in the Mactan Export Processing Zone walked out of their jobs today in protest at the suffering from their abusive capitalist. Workers of Altamode which makes clothes under world-famous brands like Adidas, Reebok and Abercrombie & Fitch stopped work when their capitalist again sent home without pay workers who failed to reach their daily quota of production.

“This is wage theft. Our management is robbing us of our daily bread by dismissing early workers who do not attain their excessive, in fact impossible, production quota. This is not a flexibility scheme but a scam. We want management to give us our salary for working a full day,” argued Reynante Pelino, an Altamode worker.

After the Altamode workers went on a work stoppage, they went to the management to air their grievances. They then staged a picket inside the factory gates with supporters from Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) just outside. More than 120 workers remain at Altamode after around 500 contractual workers were laid off in the last quarter of last year.

Dennis Derige, spokesperson for PM in Cebu, said that “It is illegal for capitalists to make workers labor for part of the day then send them home penniless and hungry on the sorry excuse of failing to attain an extreme quota. This is grand theft of labor power. It is now clear that there is an epidemic of capitalists exploiting the global crisis to undercut labor standards and wreck workers rights.”

The workers have been complaining of their capitalist’s illegal practice and went to the DOLE to gather data. They found out that Altamode had filed a notice for temporary shutdown for six months starting February this year. “Yet the truth is that Altamode is operating though erratically. They make us work for only a few days in a week and then deny us our wage if we don’t reach the quota,” explained Pelino.

Pelino also clarified that Altamode had fabricated the documents it gave the DOLE about notifying workers of the shutdown and workers supposedly agreeing to the temporary closure. “We aired our complaints when they told us of the shutdown and we asked for financial assistance if they did do it. But not only did they not give us monetary support, they are robbing us of our rightful pay,” Pelino insisted.

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Nicole’s recantation served as her visa to the US, and perhaps to a ‘greener’ pasture. The Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) expressed this view in reaction to a report that the rape victim terminated the service of her lawyer and left the country for good.

“We can only commiserate with Nicole for being a victim twice over,” said Judy Ann Miranda, PM’s secretary-general, lamenting further that in doing so the young lady from Zamboanga may have, in effect, forfeited her claim for justice against Daniel Smith and against a virtual ‘gang rape’ by the Philippine and US governments.

Miranda said that though PM respects the decision of Nicole since every woman has the right to decide over her own body and her own fate, the circumstances which pressured or forced her into a compromise is more telling than her decision to live a peaceful life.

“On the one hand the Arroyo administration’s surrogate stance against the US in pursuing Nicole’s case weakened the fight for ultimate justice, while on the other the US’ propensity to breach Philippine laws reduced Nicole into a little brown lady fighting against the world’s mightiest warlord,” said Miranda, adding that the two governments may have orchestrated this move "to restore soured relations."

Miranda, however, said the fight for justice remains very much alive within the women movement as this development simply transforms the fight into a political one –a fight for justice and sovereignty against US imperialism.

PM has been consistently behind Nicole and the women movement’s fight for justice against US serviceman Daniel Smith and on the campaign for the abrogation of the Visiting Forces Agreement.

“Unfortunately for Corporal Daniel Smith, Nicole’s recantation may be enough to confuse the bar of public opinion but it is not good enough to overturn a court’s conviction. And for Obama who might have thanked Gloria for assuring him of a status quo for the VFA when he called her up last week, unfortunately he dialed a person who does not represent the true sentiment of the Filipino people,” concludes Miranda. ###

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

At 4 p.m. today around a hundred supporters from the Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) and other labor unions picketed the gates of the Keppel shipyard. Workers from the Giardini del Sole, who were the first to go on strike against mass layoffs lent their support. “The fight of Keppel workers for jobs is the fight of all Cebuano workers,” declared Dennis Derige, spokesperson for PM-Cebu.

“Not just workers but even capitalists like the Cebu ship owners are opposing Keppel’s plan to shift from ship repair to ship building and retrench a big majority of regular workers. Yet Keppel maintains its hardline position,” explained Roger Igot, president of Nagkahiusang Mamumuo sa Baradero (NMB) Keppel Shipyard-National Federation of Labor (NFL).

Igot also revealed that documents from the Board of Investments which recently granted pioneer status to Keppel Sing-marine Philippines, Inc. show that the shipbuilder will employ 620 workers. Keppel Sing-marine Philippines is building a P590-million facility that will make tugboats and support vessels.

“That means once Keppel Cebu lays off 70% of the 280 regular workers and union members then the remaining 80 workers or so will be a tiny minority among more than 500 contractuals of Keppel Sing-marine. The contractual workers will only be paid the minimum wage and moreover will be without the protection of a union and benefit of a collective bargaining agreement,” insisted Igot.

Derige added that “How ironic that even as Keppel receives generous perks such as tax-and duty-free importation of capital equipment, income tax holiday of up to six years and exemption from wharf dues, export tax and import fees, it demolishes regular jobs and destroy workers lives. Foreign capitalists like Keppel get corporate welfare while Filipino workers are denied social protection. Any company that gets assistance from the government must be prohibited from mass layoffs on pain of losing these privileges.” ###

The labor union of Keppel Cebu filed a notice of strike this afternoon as management announced this morning that it will push through with a redundancy program. The redundancy will mean the loss of 70% of 280 regular jobs. The Nagkahiusang Mamumuo sa Baradero (NMB) Keppel Shipyard-National Federation of Labor (NFL) charged management with union busting.

Roger Igot, president of NMB-NFL, “Workers will again not leave the shipyard premises and sacrifice time with our families in order to protest the illegal termination. Keppel management is using the crisis as an excuse to replace regular jobs with cheap and docile contractual labor.” Last week union members started protest actions by remaining within the shipyard compound despite the end of their shift.

Management assembled its work force this morning and despite opposition from the workers, announced the implementation of the redundancy program. Keppel management earlier tried to downsize its work force by offering a voluntary resignation package which the union also rejected. The redundancy is in line with Keppel Cebu’s decision to shift from ship repair to ship building. The union however argues that ship building entails even more workers in spite of the introduction of machinery.

Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) and its allied unions anounced that they will support the strike of Keppel workers. “If the Keppel labor dispute matures into a strike, it will be the third strike in just two months following on the heels of the Giardini del Sole workers. A strike wave is taking shape and the labor unrest is being fanned by the capitalists’ penchant for shifting the burden of the crisis on the workers,” argued Dennis Derige, spokesperson of PM.

He added that “Management pays a regular Keppel worker much higher wages and benefits compared to a contractual laborer who makes do with below minimum wages and no benefits.”

“Contractualization on the shipyards will mean work accidents like what is happening in Hanjin at Subic. Contractualization is not just a plague on the workers but a hazard to marine safety and the riding public. We ask the Marina to explore this angle in the hearing on Keppel’s turn to shipbuilding,” Igot explained. ###

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Like a true little brown brother, Press Secretary Cerge Remonde was giddy with joy at the fact that US President Barack Obama called up Mrs. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Since Remonde is simply her alter ego, we can surmise that GMA is no less thrilled and no less a little brown sister.

That US President Obama will on his own initiative call up GMA to push for the controversial Visiting Forces Agreement is no surprise. The VFA is utterly in the imperial interest of America and it is to be expected that Obama will ensure its continuation. Showing their slavish mentality, Malacanang officials are happy that their master called up to make certain its imperial bidding is done.

The VFA must be abrogated at the soonest possible time. It is not just a violation of the constitution but an affront to our sovereignty. It serves the American imperial agenda but infringes on Philippine national interests. The VFA is to blame for the fact that convicted rapist Daniel Smith remains a fugitive from Philippine justice.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

A labor dispute is festering at the Keppel ship repair facilities in Cebu that may soon erupt into a strike. The management of Keppel shipyard wants to shift from ship repair to ship building and in the process downsize its workforce. The Keppel labor union is however resisting management attempt to layoff workers.

“Keppel is using the global crisis as an alibi to destroy the union and replace regular jobs with contractual workers,” Roger Igot, president of the Nagkahiusang Mamumuo sa Baradero (Keppel Shipyard)-National Federation of Labor alleged. As an initial protest, members of the Keppel union stayed overnight inside the shipyard facilities yesterday and will continue the mass action today when their shift ends. “We sacrificed quality time with our families in order to protect the security of our jobs,” Igot explained.

Last February 20, management proposed a plan for forced leave but the union disagreed citing the heavy presence of contractual workers. The proposal did not push through. Then on February 27, management offered a voluntary resignation package which the union also rejected because it shortchanged the workers. The same day, in a preventive mediation hearing at the National Mediation and Conciliation Board, the workers questioned management’s move to hire new contractuals without informing the union as stipulated in their collective bargaining agreement (CBA). Last Monday, management threatened the workers that it will file redundancy if they do not avail of the resignation package.

“There is no basis for redundancy since ship building will require more not less workers compared to ship repair even if they introduce new machines since it is intrinsically labor intensive. The real issue is that management wants to squeeze more profit by cheapening labor costs. Management pays a regular Keppel worker much higher wages and benefits compared to a contractual laborer who makes do with below minimum wages and no benefits,” Igot insisted.

Tomorrow a rally in support of the Keppel union will be held by affiliates of the Solidarity of Cebu Workers, displaced Cebu workers and members of the Partido ng Manggagawa. They will picket outside the gates of the Keppel shipyard in solidarity with the workers staying inside the compound.

The union also says that there are no signs that Keppel is bleeding. It will pay profit sharing later this week. There is an ongoing shipyard development project worth P300 million. While an incentive bonus was released last February.

The union also assails management for bad faith in negotiations since its statements are contradictory. Igot added that “Management intends to deceive the workers if they can get away with it. In our CBA negotiations in June of last year, they were saying that we need not worry since more workers will be hired when Keppel turns to ship building.”

The union believes that despite the global crisis, Keppel’s business remains strong and any supposed business losses due to the global crisis are just an alibi to get rid of the regular workforce and bust the union.

Members of the labor groups Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) and United Cavite Workers Association trooped to the main office of the SSS for a picket-protest against the SSS Administrator Romulo Neri’s declaration that the social security fund will not release loans to laid-off workers. They also reiterated the call for Neri’s resignation for “not just being hard-fisted with SSS funds but being cold-hearted to the workers.”

Renato Magtubo, PM chairperson argued that “SSS loans to the displaced is more justified than lending P12.5 billion of the workers fund for government infrastructure projects that the World Bank has exposed as graft-ridden. And since Neri cannot tell the truth about the NBN ZTE deal, he can hardly be trusted to reveal the real condition of SSS funds.”

The protesters brought a life preserver as a symbol of the importance of SSS as a safety net and social protection for workers. “At the precise moment when workers are struggling against drowning in the crisis, Neri punctures the life preserver of SSS loans that is one way to save the displaced,” Magtubo insisted.

Among the protesters was Elisabeth Sayson, a garment worker with the Ultimate Dream Fashion in the Cavite Economic Zone in Rosario who had completed paying 36 months in contributions but was denied a loan since she had been dismissed from work this month. “Workers in export zones usually complain of capitalists who do not remit deductions from our wages. Now we have to fight SSS itself for denying us the right to avail of our very own money that we had entrusted to it,” Sayson criticized.

PM opposes the SSS position that displaced workers can only avail of emergency loans if they continue membership as “voluntary members.” Sayson argued that “How can we continue contributing to the SSS when we are out of work and without an income. We are ready to contribute to the SSS if the government gives an unemployment subsidy to retrenched workers until we can find a new job. If not then the government must subsidize the employee and employer contributions to SSS so that our benefits will not be cut off.”

The group also declared that the summer jobs being offered by SSS can complement but cannot be a replacement for loans for displaced workers. The protesters say that 2,000 summer jobs are not a safety net but a band aid solution given that tens of thousands of workers and counting have been laid off.

Magtubo reiterated their position that “The SSS must open its books for an audit by representatives of organized labor other than those already sitting in its board. Congress should also study an amendment to the SSS law in order to lift the 10 per cent ceiling and the necessity of a government infusion of money to the workers’ fund so it can provide benefits for the estimated hundreds of thousands of workers that will be displaced. The 10 per cent limit should not be a concrete ceiling but a movable elevator that can be adjusted as the conditions require.”

“We sacrificed part of their daily pay for social security contributions in preparation for a rainy day. Now is that rainy day. In fact this is bound to be a rainy season. To deny workers this social protection in their hour of need is cruel,” Sayson stated.

Sunday, March 8, 2009

The militant Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) called for the resignation of SSS Administrator Romulo Neri in the wake of his declaration that the social security fund will not release loans to laid-off workers. “Neri does not deserve the post of custodian of the workers’ retirement and social security fund. He is not simply stingy but is insensitive to the workers,” insisted Renato Magtubo, chairperson of PM.

“If Neri cannot tell the people the truth about the NBN ZTE deal, then how can we trust him to reveal the real condition of SSS funds? In the interest of transparency and accountability, the SSS Board must reveal to the workers the state of the workers fund. So workers can validate Neri’s declaration that the 10 per cent ceiling allowed by law has already been reached,” Magtubo argued. He also asked that the SSS open its books for an audit by representatives of organized labor other than those already sitting in its board.

He added that “Workers have sacrificed part of their daily pay for social security contributions in preparation for a rainy day. Now is that rainy day. In fact this is bound to be a rainy season. To deny workers this social protection and safety net in their hour of need is cruel and coldhearted.”

PM is also asking Congress to study an amendment to the SSS law in order to lift the 10 per cent ceiling and the necessity of a government infusion of money to the workers’ fund so it can provide benefits for the estimated hundreds of thousands of workers that will be displaced.

“This 10 per cent limit should not be a concrete ceiling but a movable elevator that can be adjusted as the conditions necessitate. In this historic crisis that the world is going through, arbitrary limits such as the 10 per cent ceiling should not be hard-and-fast rules that cannot be changed for workers lives are at stake,” Magtubo elaborated.

The government is just making big fuzz out of its false claim that Filipino women have overtaken men in terms of development, a militant labor party said in a statement in today’s celebration of the International Women’s Day.

Women members of the Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) (Labor Party-Philippines), who joined the Welga ng Kababaihan’s march to Mendiola this morning, reacted strongly to a presumptous government study which claimed that women have indeed overtaken men in many aspects and that sooner or later it is the Filipino men who will clamor for equality and would demand for its own “National Men’s Month”.

According to an article titled “When will Filipino men catch up with Filipino Women?” written by Candido J. Astrologo, Jr. (cj.astrologo@nscb.gov.ph), OIC-Director of the National Statistical Information Center (NSIC) and Policies, Programs, and Standards Office (PPSO) and published in March under the column of Romulo Virola, the Secretary General of National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) (www.nscb.gov.ph/headlines/StatsSpeak/2009/020909_cja_gdi.asp), women outperformed men in terms of health, education, and income.

The study claimed women gained higher achievements than men in all three dimensions as indicated by the higher than one levels of Gender Equality Ratio or GER for health (1.0248), education (1.0583) and income (1.2299) in 2003. In fact, the advantage of women in the income dimension grew bigger as the GER in income increased from 1.1170 to 1.2299 and could possibly one of the reasons why this year’s Women’s Month theme is “Babae, Yaman ka ng Bayan!”

And this was due to what the author claims is government’s attention given to women being a signatory to various international conventions and resolutions in formulation of appropriate domestic policies on women, the latest of which is the proposed Magna Carta on Women.

“With all these efforts geared towards enhancing the status of women, wouldn’t Pepe feel jealous that Pilar is getting all the attention? And refer to Pilar as 'ang babaeng humugot ng aking tadyang?' Should there be a Magna Carta of Men too?,” the study pompously declared.

But PM secretary-general Judy Ann Miranda said the article smacks of pretentions and is more a self-emulation of the Arroyo administration’s wanting gender performance.

“The study merely highlights women achievements in those areas but it hides the bigger picture of the real state of inequality between men and women in the Philippines. It also contains chauvinist innuendos, or a sexist joke at its worst, by challenging the egos of men that were outperformed by women. That makes us wonder whether the government truly understands the essence of women’s struggle for equality,” lamented Miranda.

Invisible work, lower wages, more women death

The awful truth, Miranda said, is that around 51.4 percent (or 15 million) of Filipino women are not active in the labor force compared to men’s 78.9 percent (22.9 million) labor force participation rate. Assuming that 4 million of these women aged 15-19 are still studying and the 2.5 million aged 60-80 above have retired. This means there remains 8.5 million women aged 20-59 who are not active in the labor force and what for what reasons? These women are, more or less, a big chunk of the labor force that are doing fulltime household work – unrecognized by society because the value of what they do remains invisible in the country’s income accounts. Likewise, they are not counted in the statistics of the unemployed. In fact, there are only 929,000 unemployed women accounted for in October 2008. Compared to

“How can then invisible women be considered 'yaman ng bayan' when in fact these women cannot claim that even to themselves?” Miranda averred. These numbers indicate that more than half of Filipino women aged 15 and above are without their own income.

Moreover, according to the International Labor Organization (ILO), women are paid lower wages compared to men, and this is the trend worldwide. Despite the fact that there is no discrimination on women in terms of wages policies in the country, majority of women workers are found service sector, education, finance, health and social work where wages are more often than not below the minimum wage rate, without benefits, the worse of working conditions and the type of work they do are extensions of their household chores. To add up to these is the recent lay off of around 40,000 workers, mostly women, due to the global economic crisis.

“How can then we take the report of Virola seriously,” added PM’s secretary general. These data categorically negates the report that women have overtaken men also in terms of education given the fact that majority of women are unemployed and without their own source of income.

The same goes in the health aspect. It is true statistics say that women live longer than men, however, there are also 11 women who die in childbirth everyday according to the recent study conducted by the United Nations Children’s Fund. Pregnancy and childbirth complications remain in the top 10 killers of women in the country. In relation with this, it is estimated that 800 women die yearly due to complications of unsafe abortion. Around 3,0000 women yearly are reported raped and the trend is going up. Another 3,000 women die of breast cancer yearly, and another 2,000 of cervical cancer.

Demand for bailout

In the face of the global economic crisis, the Partido ng Manggagawa is demanding in particular, (1) a specific subsidy program for displaced women workers, (2) tax refund for wage earners, (3) extension of health care coverage, (4) a reformed public employment program for displaced and unemployed women, and, (5) a moratorium on demolitions and evictions.

It is also calling for the reversal of liberalization, deregulation and privatization policies which women blame for the high prices of goods and the deterioration of public services.

The labor party is also calling for the passage of the Reproductive Health Bill now pending before the Congress.

With the impact of the economic meltdown expected to hit women the hardest, as confirmed in a statement by the International Labor Organization one day before International Women’s Day, the Partido ng Manggagawa renewed its call to both Houses of Congress for the passage of the reproductive health bill.

PM said that according to a latest study done by the United Nation’s Children’s Fund, 11 Filipino women die in childbirth everyday. “Undoubtedly, this number may even grow bigger as the effect of the global economic crisis deepens. Women workers – mostly in insecure jobs, underpaid, working in the most deplorable of working conditions – are victims of the country’s pathetic reproductive and maternal health services,” explained Judy Ann Miranda, PM’s general secretary.

Filipino women, especially poor working women, are the main beneficiaries once the proposed reproductive health bill is enacted. Interventions such as childbirths being supervised by midwives and skilled health professionals, high infertility rates properly addressed, mothers educated on family planning methods and risks of pregnancy, strengthening of the country’s poor reproductive and health care systems, etc will more likely be addressed.

“On Women’s Day, we are calling on the Arroyo government, that instead of focusing on farcical notions that women have indeed beaten men in terms of income, why not address the fact that majority of Filipino women are poor. Instead of focusing on the few women who have made it – indeed, we are happy for these women – why not focus on the plight of the more than half a million women who undergo unsafe abortion because of poverty, who want to use artificial contraception but cannot because of poverty, who want to give birth safely but cannot because of poverty…women whose needs should be addressed accordingly by a government headed by a woman herself,” said Miranda. She added “Indeed, it is high time for the government to address these issues and work for the passage of the RH bill.”

The Partido ng Manggagawa, in the midst of the global crisis, is also demanding for the implementation of a specific subsidy program for displaced women workers, tax refund for wage earners, a health care coverage, a reformed public employment program for displaced and unemployed women, and moratorium on demolitions and evictions. It is also calling for the reversal of liberalization, deregulation and privatization policies which women blame for the high prices of goods and the deterioration of public services.

Friday, March 6, 2009

Women leaders of the labor group Partido ng Manggagawa cautioned the government against vetoing the P50 billion fund added by Congress from the budget allocated for debt servicing. They warned of protests if the veto pushes through. Yesterday the group led women workers in a picket at the Labor Department to push for subsidy and jobs.

“It is truly ironic if Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo during women’s month vetoes the supplemental budget for social services and education programs that will benefit women. We want the Marcos-era automatic debt appropriations law repealed for depriving women of social services,” argued Judy Ann Miranda, secretary-general of Partido ng Manggagawa (PM).

Miranda furthered that “A P50 billion cut in debt servicing to fund social programs is already too little in fact. But it is better than nothing. And it is better than the P330 billion government stimulus plan which does not involve any new money and is merely a repackaging of the old budget. Yet GMA threatens to bring it back to zero.”

Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya had announced yesterday that the President might veto the provision appropriating P50 billion for the congressional aid package. Last year, the President restored interest payments for questionable loans such as the medical waste incinerators bought from an Austrian firm after Philippine environmental laws had rendered the equipment illegal.

“If indeed GMA vetoes the additional stimulus fund then she would consistent in her anti-poor, pro-banker stand. And she would be deserving of the condemnation of working women,” Miranda added.

PM is campaigning for a bailout package for working women since they are bearing the brunt of the impact of the layoffs and other flexibility schemes by employers. The group is calling for unemployment subsidy for workers, tax refund for all wage earners, PhilHealth coverage for displaced workers, a reformed public employment program, and moratorium on demolitions and evictions.

It is also calling for the reversal of the policies of liberalization, deregulation and privatization which the group blames for the high prices of goods and the deterioration of public services. PM is further demanding the reallocation of the entire P700 billion debt servicing budget to fund a vastly expanded social program.

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Some 100 women members of the Partido ng Manggagawa (PM), including displaced workers, staged a picket today at the Intramuros office of the Department of Labor and Employment to demand a six-point bailout for workers and the poor.

PM members brought a mock stretcher and a wheelchair to dramatize the dire plight of women, especially those who are displaced by the deepening global economic crisis. The mock stretcher and wheelchair, the group said, depict the urgent need of women for a life support system to cushion the impact of massive layoffs, high cost of living and tuition fee increases. The protesters also carried dextrose- and pill-shaped placards listing their 6-point call for a bailout.

“More than anybody else, it is the women workers who shoulder the heavy burden of the ongoing economic crisis due to lack of social protection from the state and the weak observance and implementation of core labor standards in the country,” stated Judy Ann Miranda, secretary-general of PM.

Job and security, Miranda said, is very important for a woman since having a regular job “is her first and major step in the long journey away from the dark world of domestication.” She also criticized the government’s theme in this month’s women day celebration that focuses more on entrepreneurship rather than job protection and job creation. “The theme ‘Babae, Yaman ka ng Bayan’ highlights the women’s exceptional role in poverty alleviation, but this merely stresses the self-help economic activities that they have already been doing since time immemorial because of lack of employment,” she added.

In particular, the Partido ng Manggagawa is demanding unemployment subsidy for women workers, tax refund for wage earners, health care coverage for displace workers, a reformed public employment program for displaced and unemployed women, and moratorium on demolitions and evictions. It is also calling for the reversal of liberalization, deregulation and privatization policies which women blame for the high prices of goods and the deterioration of public services.

According to Miranda, the immediate and harsh impact of the global crisis hit the women workers first since most of them work in electronics and garment industries, the country’s top export to the US and Europe.

Marites Manjares, a leader of the United Cavite Workers Association who joined the protest reported more layoffs in the Cavite Economic Zone in the town of Rosario. “The overwhelming majority of those laid off and about to be retrenched are women since they are workers in electronics factories,” she emphasized.

The country’s top export is electronics with revenues of $2.6 billion as of September last year. Manjares enumerated the recently affected electronics factories in the ecozone as:

Clarion: more than 200 to be retrenched this MarchP. Imes: more than 100 laid off last February but the separation pay to be released only this monthDyna Image: 400 jobs cut last JanuaryN.T. Phils: 400 workers terminated last Dec

“With the crisis deepening, the double burden of women workers becomes heavier. The traditional coping mechanism of the workers and the poor is the safety net of family relations but this unduly relies on the unpaid work of women. The double burden means women are exploited as cheap labor in the factories and then utilized as unpaid workers in the home,” argued Manjares.

She explained that “The government must provide the safety net of social protection so that workers and the poor do not rely exclusively on the coping mechanism of family relations and women are not weighed down by the heavier double burden.”

The labor party is also calling for the passage of the Reproductive Health Bill now pending before the Congress.

“The RH bill answers the problem of high maternal mortality that is bound to escalate in times of crisis. Without the RH bill, reproductive health services are presently beyond the reach of poor working women,” Miranda concluded.

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

With the advent of women’s month, women workers are renewing the call for a bailout package for workers and the poor. “In times of crisis, the usual coping mechanisms of the workers and the poor would be the safety net of family relations. This traditional safety net unduly relies on the unpaid work of women family members. Thus the double burden of women workers will be heavier as the crisis deepens,” argued Judy Ann Miranda, secretary-general of the Partido ng Manggagawa (PM).

She added that “The grave impact of the crisis on women in general and women workers in particular is the urgent theme of women’s month for this year. The government must provide the safety net of social protection so that workers and the poor do not rely exclusively on the coping mechanism of family relations and women are not weighed down by the heavier double burden. In this double burden, women are exploited as cheap labor in the factories and then utilized as unpaid workers in the home.”

PM is campaigning for a 5-point bailout package for workers and the poor that consist of (1) subsidy for displaced workers from the SSS, GSIS and OWWA; (2) tax refund for wage earners; (2) expansion and reform of the public employment program; (3) extension of health care coverage for displaced workers; and (5) moratorium on demolitions and evictions.

Many of the tens of thousands that have fallen victim to permanent layoffs, work rotations and other flexibility schemes are women workers. In the two industries that have been greatly affected by the global crisis—electronics and garments—women workers are the overwhelming majority.

The country’s top two exports are electronics and, apparel and clothing accessories accounting for $2.6 billion and $181 million in revenues as of the September 2008 data of the National Statistics Office. About 18% of exports are sent to the US and then 14% to Japan, both of which are in recession.

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Our Vision

Our dream is a world that gives due importance to the role of the working class and respects the dignity of labor. A social order where the working men and women of the world live together in peace, harmony and progress.Our aspirations lie in the emancipation of labor. A government that is truly of the workers, by the workers and for the workers.

Our hopes rest in a future where social progress thrives not for the benefit of a few people but for the development and richness of the entire humankind. A society that is free from the chains of wage slavery and where oppression does not exist.

Our Mission

Forge the unity of the workers into an independent working class party to organize them as a potent political force in social transformation towards the advancement and protection of labor from the scourge of globalization, establishment of a genuine workers’ government and the emancipation of the working class from capitalist exploitation and wage slavery.

Workers Unite!

The working class is the most important class in society. But, labor will only be a force to reckon with at a time when labor assumes the responsibility of leading the struggle to a decent living - free from exploitation of the propertied elite.

The time has come to rally every underprivileged sector of the society, to take the bull by the head and confront the issues of today. The working class must take an active role in every political exercise presented. The backbone of the independent party must be comprised of the working class with the other marginalized sectors in solidarity.

We must organize politically.

This is our own challenge and we must vow not to shirk from it.

Our future is in our hands, in our unity, in our struggle, in our party.